posted at 5:00 pm on January 23, 2012 by Allahpundit

I understand why he’d want to hit Newt hard on Freddie in Florida, which has taken a beating from the housing downturn. What I don’t understand is what he’ll say when Newt reminds the world tonight that Mitt put more than $250,000 in mutual funds that invested in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, among other government entities. Romney will come prepared with some sort of spin, but I think details are almost meaningless to most voters with tu quoques like this, especially with a candidate like Mitt who’s already perceived as two-faced. (Why is a guy who’s famously worth nine figures calling on anyone to give back some of their earnings, anyway? Terrible optics.) The takeaway will be Newt telling Mitt that his hands are dirty too and therefore he’s in no position to judge, and that’ll be that.

Question: If, like me, you’re clinging to the vaporous hope of a late entrant and/or brokered convention, how should you be rooting in Florida? For Newt, right? If Romney holds off Gingrich there, he’s back on track for the nomination, even if the slog will be longer than he first expected. If Gingrich upsets Romney, establishment Republicans will wet themselves in terror at the thought of an allegedly unelectable candidate becoming the nominee and will scramble to head Newt off. Maybe that means pushing someone new into the race or maybe it means propping the two of them up in various ways so that delegates split three ways between them and Ron Paul and no one has a majority at the convention. The Mitch Daniels fans are pleading with him again to reconsider, which makes sense insofar as Newt’s rise seems to have neutralized character attacks in the race. (In Daniels’s case, any attacks would be aimed at his wife, not at him, which makes them even more unlikely.) The problem with Daniels as a late entrant, though, is that he too would be seen as an “establishment” candidate, perhaps even more so than Romney. He’s a Bush guy, after all, and would have plenty of wealthy donors behind him, which Gingrich would frame as an attempt by “insiders” to rig the election twice at the expense of grassroots conservatives after having failed to do it once with Romney. If establishment Republicans really want to stop Newtmentum, they’d need a candidate with grassroots cred to blunt Newt’s pushback. Jindal seems like the most obvious option to me: He’s a free agent now that Perry’s out of the race and he’s universally respected among grassroots conservatives. But could he win a three-way race with Romney and Gingrich (or, rather, a four-way race with Paul) at this point? Hard to imagine. I think it’s brokered convention or bust.

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I issue a challenge – unless you are old enough to remember the
truth about this do not respond.

Newt was “Palinized” before she was. He was sold out by his
own party because they wanted the power Newt was giving to the
people back in their own little dirty hands. It was a crock then
and it is a crock now.

What I don’t understand is what he’ll say when Newt reminds the world tonight that Mitt put more than $250,000 in mutual funds that invested in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, among other government entities.

Because investing in funds that run across several agencies did not allow the GSE’s to keep pimping out subprime mortgages. Lobbyin…. historical analysis by someone who knows neither the history nor mortgage lending while interacting with Congress did pave the way for subprime loans to be pimped out.

Maybe it’s just me, but I think we should vote for the guy who will have Obama urinating in his pants during the debates – we need to get this man out of the White House. We can deal with Newt, we can’t survive any more Obama.

If Gingrich upsets Romney, establishment Republicans will wet themselves in terror at the thought of an allegedly unelectable candidate becoming the nominee and will scramble to head Newt off. Maybe that means pushing someone new into the race or maybe it means propping the two of them up in various ways so that delegates split three ways between them and Ron Paul and no one has a majority at the convention.

So let me get this straight. Say Newt wins back-to-back primaries, perhaps both by double-digit margins. Doesn’t that mean the base is starting to coalesce around his candidacy and rejecting the establishment candidate? We can sit here and debate Newt’s electability til we’re blue in the face(or red since he’s a Republican). But bottom line is if the GOP elites try to dump Mittens in favor of another anti-Newt candidate, they’re gonna give off the appearance of A)complete chaos which not only hurts Newt in the eyes of the electorate, but also makes their party look incompetent and panicky and B)that they couldn’t give a rat’s ass about what the voters want.

That’s a very dangerous approach to take to a Presidential primary for a major party. Especially since conservatives and Tea Partiers are essential to any GOP general election victory. Disenfranchise them and you may as well kiss the entire Republican party goodbye.

Newt was “Palinized” before she was. He was sold out by his
own party because they wanted the power Newt was giving to the
people back in their own little dirty hands. It was a crock then
and it is a crock now.

Amjean on January 23, 2012 at 5:04 PM

hahaha, Newt, da people’s man :-)…New the empowerer of da proletariat :-)..dude, that spot is already taken by the community organizer in chief :-)….try something else, maybe it will stick :-)…

Anyone who believes a broken convention is possible is an imbecile. With the current rules of delegates allocation + how nationalized political races have become since the early 80s, it simple can’t happen.

Newt was “Palinized” before she was. He was sold out by his
own party because they wanted the power Newt was giving to the
people back in their own little dirty hands. It was a crock then
and it is a crock now.

Good grief, Allah, if you don’t know the difference between pimpimg for Freddie Mac and helping it avoid regulation, and investing some of your money in its paper as a part of a balanced portfolio, I can’t help you.

What fool is running Romneys campaign? You just got your butt handed to you and now you want to go dirty? Now is the time where you show what you have that makes you a better choice than Newt, not this.

Anyone who believes a broken convention is possible is an imbecile. With the current rules of delegates allocation + how nationalized political races have become since the early 80s, it simple can’t happen.

joana on January 23, 2012 at 5:08 PM

I’m 90% with you joana. It’s a pipe dream. Besides, once the primaries go “winner take all”, someone is going to pull away from the pack.

my 10% caveat. Don’t underestimate the level of GOP desperation. Like Rush said today, they simply can change the rules.

BREAKING BREAKING: Gingrich’s former consulting company will release his contracts with Freddie Mac before tonight’s debate. Now we will know what Gingrich was doing ad Freddie and if it is innocuous, Romney might look really bad.

Little known to the American public Newt Gingrich and his then wife Marianne were the subject of a US Justice Department criminal investigation in the late 1990s involving a $10 million bribe of the world’s largest private arms dealer, Sarkis Soghanalia
Unaware that Soghanalian was an FBI informant, it is alleged that Marianne Gingrich whilst working for the Israel Export Development Corporation (IEDC) tried to facilitate a bribe to the tune of $10 million so that her husband could use his influence to lift the arms embargo against Iraq in order for Soghanalian to collect an outstanding payment of $54 million from Saddam Hussein.
In a series of interviews before his death in October 2011, Soghanalian claimed that people representing the Gingrichs advised that the money should not be paid directly to Gingrich but to a fund set up by the Institute for Advanced Strategic & Political Studies (IASPS), an Israeli/US think tank. According to its website, the IASPS was founded in 1984. It is connected to the Likud Party in Israel and maintains ties to conservative politicians in Israel and the United States.
Tony Khater, Soghanalian’s top aide, claimed that, “The FBI was aware of every contact Sarkis had with these people. The FBI told Sarkis to push for meetings with Gingrich and his wife. The FBI instructed Sarkis to attend the meetings, if they could be arranged.”
According to a Justice Department official, the objective of the 2 yearlong investigation “…was to see if Gingrich, through his then wife, was involved in an attempt by political associates to solicit bribes.” An FBI agent that was active in the case said, “The investigation was called off before we were permitted to finish making a case.”

BREAKING BREAKING: Gingrich’s former consulting company will release his contracts with Freddie Mac before tonight’s debate. Now we will know what Gingrich was doing ad Freddie and if it is innocuous, Romney might look really bad.

Anyone who believes a broken convention is possible is an imbecile. With the current rules of delegates allocation + how nationalized political races have become since the early 80s, it simple can’t happen.

Jindel isn’t ready for prime time, Mitch still doesn’t have the pipes and more people in the race are intended to nominate Romney, who’s candidate is he again? Oh yeah the please don’t rock our boat GOP establishment.

Romney’s flailing again. If he loses FL, I think his entire base of support (such as it is) will collapse as the whole phony electability-myth edifice comes tumbling down. Romney has problems with Gingrich but yet he’s going to take on that Dem machine and beat Obama. Idiocy.

He calls Obama a European-style Socialist, which is accurate. Calling Obama a marxist is hyperbole.

cd98 on January 23, 2012 at 5:16 PM

Obama and Co. are proposing a committee to regulate the amount of profit some companies can have. Fair Profits Board. Marxism is: “To each according to his need, from each according to his abilities.” A Fair Profits Board is by definition Marxism.

As I understand it Romney has already saturated the state with ads, this is a yawner. Romney will practice answering the attacks he thinks Newt will make, if Newt wings it Romney is done. Without a practiced answer it all “I love America and Americans!! Oh and puyppies, and the elderly, and Americans did I mention Americans. and that I love them?”

Question: If, like me, you’re clinging to the vaporous hope of a late entrant and/or brokered convention, how should you be rooting in Florida? For Newt, right? If Romney holds off Gingrich there, he’s back on track for the nomination, even if the slog will be longer than he first expected. If Gingrich upsets Romney, establishment Republicans will wet themselves in terror at the thought of an allegedly unelectable candidate becoming the nominee and will scramble to head Newt off. Maybe that means pushing someone new into the race or maybe it means propping the two of them up in various ways so that delegates split three ways between them and Ron Paul and no one has a majority at the convention. The Mitch Daniels fans are pleading with him again to reconsider, which makes sense insofar as Newt’s rise seems to have neutralized character attacks in the race. (In Daniels’s case, any attacks would be aimed at his wife, not at him, which makes them even more unlikely.) The problem with Daniels as a late entrant, though, is that he too would be seen as an “establishment” candidate, perhaps even more so than Romney. He’s a Bush guy, after all, and would have plenty of wealthy donors behind him, which Gingrich would frame as an attempt by “insiders” to rig the election twice at the expense of grassroots conservatives after having failed to do it once with Romney. If establishment Republicans really want to stop Newtmentum, they’d need a candidate with grassroots cred to blunt Newt’s pushback. Jindal seems like the most obvious option to me: He’s a free agent now that Perry’s out of the race and he’s universally respected among grassroots conservatives. But could he win a three-way race with Romney and Gingrich (or, rather, a four-way race with Paul) at this point? Hard to imagine. I think it’s brokered convention or bust.

Permit to laugh thrice at this lunacy. The only obvious candidate at this point would Sarah Palin and you avoid the name like plague. Anyway, it’s quite amusing to watch people who told Palinistas that her late entry is a pipe dream but somehow Jindal could play a deux ex machina. Congratulations, you have lost the last iota of respect one may’ve had for you as an independent commentator.

Romney is an arrogant person who thinks the nomination can be bought. Conservatives are refusing the product he is selling. He is not a conservative and he also went to the left of Ted Kennedy during his days at Massachusetts

The difference was that Palin didn’t do anything to bring it on and Gingrich was guilty.

V7_Sport on January 23, 2012 at 5:06 PM

Ahhhh…. no. He was exonerated of all the charges.

All.

Not some.

Not a few.

All.

Facts are stubborn things. If you want to take shots at him, than do it based on facts (and yes, the same goes for shots at Romney, Santorum, and – God help us – Ron Paul). Leave the smearing to the Left. They’re better at it… it’s in their DNA apparently.

What fool is running Romneys campaign? You just got your butt handed to you and now you want to go dirtynegative? Now is the time where you show what you have that makes you a better choice than Newt, not this.

Sultanofsham on January 23, 2012 at 5:14 PM

But Palin said the candidates (INCLUDING NEWTRON) needed more vetting.

Romney is doing what everyone always tells us won’t work, negative ads. I guess that is what you do when you have NO conservative accomplishments to tout. At least when Newt speaks it is with confidence in the American spirit and respect and love for the country that comes through and that is what connects to voters. Romney has taken his campaign down a very dark road and that does not bode well for him.